Beauty is only skin deep - Divina Review of November 23 cruise.

[Skipper Tim]

 

Not at all. One should always seek the advice of a knowledgeable waiter. They will always know more about what is especially good that day than the guest. Try it - it pays excellent dividends.

[sidari]

"Signs appear and disappear to comply with local regulations at the time. MSC are particularly adept at this and again this is nothing to complain about"

 

No one was or is complaining! just merely pointing out what was being done on the ship as it was last year with regard to signage.

 

With regard to toilets on the Divina i find it odd that there is no Hot water in them for hand washing.

[pmacher61]

Not at all. One should always seek the advice of a knowledgeable waiter. They will always know more about what is especially good that day than the guest. Try it - it pays excellent dividends.

 

 

It's one thing to seek advice. It's quite another for you to say that bad food problems would resolved if only "guests should showed some humility and took the advice of their spirited waiters in their menu choices instead of arrogantly telling us (sic) how certain dishes they think they know should be..."

Edited December 10, 2013 by pmacher61

[steph7021]

Well I don't know if it would have solved a bad food problem in this case....but my husband has never used the menu on any cruise we've been on. He tells the waiter on the first night that he would like him/her to choose his courses for him. He swears by it and has always had a good dinner.

 

 

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[Skipper Tim]

 

It's one thing to seek advice. It's quite another for you to say that bad food problems would resolved if only "guests should showed some humility and took the advice of their spirited waiters in their menu choices instead of arrogantly telling us (sic) how certain dishes they think they know should be..."

 

Agreed.

 

 

[Skipper Tim]

Well I don't know if it would have solved a bad food problem in this case....but my husband has never used the menu on any cruise we've been on. He tells the waiter on the first night that he would like him/her to choose his courses for him. He swears by it and has always had a good dinner.

 

That is brilliant! It crystalises everything I was trying to say. I will follow his example.

 

Thank you and I promise I will report back on the success of this tactic here!

Edited December 10, 2013 by Skipper Tim

[papcx]

That is brilliant! It crystalises everything I was trying to say. I will follow his example.

 

Thank you and I promise I will report back on the success of this tactic here!

 

I might be tempted to try this myself. However I love MSCs food so I can't lose either way.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for all the commentary.

[Elmartellama]

Regarding urinals, it's not an MSC thing but an Italian thing. You won't usually find urinals in Italy. I've never known why :confused:

[footzz]

Thanks for everyone's comments and input. This board is a great resource for the cruising community. My review was honest and factual based on our observations and experiences. Most everyone seemed to appreciate the review. However it would appear that not everyone appreciated what we had to say, so I would like to address that here. My responses are in red.

 

I had resisted reading this review as MSC were setting up the Divina to be a cruise line within a cruise line for the U.S. market and not anything I would ever want to try. However, I am most encouraged that MSC has not changed too much.

 

Yes meals are slow. The are the centre piece of Italian civilization. Seven courses over two hours plus (I find three and a half hours somewhat a stretch - were you finishing at one in the morning?).

 

 

Perhaps leisurely meals are the centerpiece of Italian civilization, but the fact remains that MSC is entering into the North American marketplace, with a majority of North Americans passengers that do not share the same dining philosophy. As far as the length of time spent in the dining room, one evening we were seated at 8:30pm and we finished dinner at 12:00 midnight. So, the total amount of time spent dining totaled 3-1/2 hours. And, I agree, that really is stretching out the dining experience.

 

I have commented before that it is not that MSC food is not good but that it has that reputation simply because the translations into English are poor to appalling. People are disappointed that what comes does not match their expectations from the description. MSC's food would have a better reputation if guests were given no choice or, better, guests showed some humility and took the advice of their spirited waiters in their menu choices instead of arrogantly telling us how certain dishes they think they know should be. "Thousand island dressing"'! That would be a sacking offence.

 

I stated in my review that food is subjective and in my experience the quality of food has very little to do with any translation. I've had both good and bad meals at many different restaurants and it never seemed matter in what language the menu was written. And, maybe I don't have as refined a palette or the appreciation for fine dining that some people do, but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to be able to stand a fork straight up in a serving of risotto. As far as having choices, You really lost me on that one. One of the main selling points of modern day cruising is promoting the number of choices being offered to attract customers. Have you not noticed that every new ship a cruise company builds tries to out do their competitors by offering more and more choices. In regard to the menu, when it specifically states what a particular dish is composed of, most people would expect to be served something that moderately resembles the description. Is that too much to expect? And, believe it or not, the description in the menu really didn't even get the ingredients for a Reuben sandwich right. A proper Reuben should come with Russian dressing, not Thousand Island dressing. I really had no idea that my appreciation of a well made sandwich might be construed as being arrogant.

 

No urinals - joy! I also commented on this before. MSC does not get enough appreciation and recognition for this. Also for not having unhygienic hand dryers, only far preferable paper towels. These things are deadly important.

 

 

Not having urinals is not a problem, provided the stalls are kept clean. Paper towels are a good thing. Now, if they would just place waste bins next to the exit to facilitate their disposal upon leaving the facilities.

 

Three glasses per person is normal: red and white wine plus water. I can't imagine what else you would expect.

 

 

One might to expect to have the waitstaff remove the glasses that weren't being used. For instance, if we're sharing a bottle of Albino Rocca Barbaresco. we only need red wine glasses. So, I don't see why every glass needs to remain on the table for the entire meal, weather they were being used or not. It seems most other dining venues understand this.

 

Why queue to get into dinner? Are you one of those? Stay at the bar until the way is clear.

 

 

Am I “one of those” what? Since you seem to be so very interested in every detail of our cruise experience, we did indeed wait in the Black and White lounge until the crowds subsided. Unlike those “others”. Whatever “they” are.

 

To hear yet more complaints about beef and lobster make my eyes roll. There is not an awful lot of either in Mediterranean cuisine. There are however two thousand other dishes served on board which are native of the different regions of Italy - how were they?

 

 

You would think the good people at MSC would tire of the complaints too. The fact is, either someone knows how to cook or they don't, regardless of the ingredients. For instance, have you ever eaten in a Chinese restaurant? Have you ever looked into a kitchen and noticed that sometimes the cooks aren't Chinese but still seem to manage to cook good food? As far as the “regional” cuisine, please refer to my comment about standing a fork straight up in a serving of risotto.

 

Children are another aspect of Mediterranean culture - they believe that children should take part in the social lives of the parents and always be together as a family when out. When you choose a 'kids go free' cruise line, you should expect some.

 

 

I fully expected children on a “kid's cruise free” cruise line, especially during a traditionally family oriented holiday. It's great when the whole family can share time together, but unfortunately, some parents, regardless of their nationality, let their kids run amok, at all hours of the night with no regard for anyone else. That's not entirely the cruise lines fault, it's also poor parenting, in any culture.

 

Apart from matters of security, which they take very seriously indeed, MSC do not police their rules. For dress codes, adults only etc., they rely on self-policing. They do not treat adults like children. They don't even treat children like children. This may be different to other lines.

 

 

I don't recall mentioning anything regarding the policing of any rules. I did mention that there was no “adults only” pool. But in the end, even if they had one, I guess it wouldn’t matter because MSC probably wouldn't enforce the “adults only” rule. And indeed, other lines are different. Some are more stringent in their enforcement than others. Although, so far I never been on any cruise where they enforce the “no reserving chair” rules.

 

Signs appear and disappear to comply with local regulations at the time. MSC are particularly adept at this and again this is nothing to complain about.

 

 

Are you confusing my review with someone else??? Signs, what signs? I never mentioned anything about any signs.

 

As for disembarkation, you don't have to kettle yourself into some lounge prior. You still have the freedom of the ship - use it. Those instructions are for the uptight who need to be told what to do or else blow a fuse. One of the pool bars would have been my venue of choice until the crowds subsided. "We have to stay on the ship as long as possible", because we are still on holiday and it maximizes value.

 

 

One most certainly doesn't have to subject themselves to a packed lounge. But, if someone needs to exit the ship as soon as possible, because of travel commitments, hanging out at the pool bar isn't an option. And, in case you weren't aware, some of the other cruise lines don't kick you out of your stateroom at 7:00 am and will let you remain there until your designated disembarkation time. Much more civilized.

 

So overall, I trust that many observations of the OP are accurate it is just that we would draw diametrically different conclusions from them. The Divina in the U.S. doesn't sound half as bad as I had expected.

 

 

I'm not sure who the “we” is you're referring to, but my review was factual, based on our experiences as compared to the other cruise lines we've been on. As they say, “different strokes for different folks”. For me, that's part of what makes life interesting. We really didn't go with high expectations, and in that regard, we weren't disappointed. Bon Voyage.

__________________

Edited December 11, 2013 by footzz

[pmacher61]

You did a fine job of responding to a lame attempt to pick apart your Divina review by belittling you. Poor Skippy seems so very eager to defend MSC that he routinely indulges in personal attacks against those who write about their negative experiences. There are a couple more like him. I suggest you just ignore their comments. Most of the time these attacks are vacuous and infantile gibberish.

[Antonintassie]

Whats the problem with dinner taking 2 hours ? Its not a race people .The constant hostility towards children by some of the cruising club also is out of order ,get over it people kids travel with their parents and to expect them to be hidden away is stupid ,how do you think children get exposure to social activities and learn and develop into articulate adults ( you can not learn that on youtube) .

Cruising is an age inclusive holiday product .

[kevsue]

As a first time cruiser, I am looking at these posts each day with great interest. I have picked up many really useful hints and tips. I was initially quite upset by some of the reviews- we are looking forward to our "holiday of a lifetime" on Divina and I was starting to worry that I had wasted our money! However I now bear in mind the subjective nature of any review and have noted massive cultural differences and different expectations between the posts from USA and those from europe.I will continue to read them and enjoy them all so please keep posting! :)

[travelberlin]

Just a small comment in terms of dinner time. My husband and me do not like to spend a lot of time at dinner. We usually do not eat five or seven courses. We have noticed that in any cruise line we have sailed, it would take some time to get our orders, and then to get our food. Main reason for this usually is that the waiters are serving several tables and they wait for their tables to be full before going to the kitchen to leave the orders. However, in many cases guests arrive not on time. Doors at the restaurant for fix seating keep about half an hour open and waiters wait about 20 minutes before they go place their orders.

Several times we have told politely to the waiters, that we do not like to wait for our food too long. The waiters have done every thing possible to serve us as fast as they could. We recognise this service at the end of the cruise by tipping extra. Also at the MSC ships we have managed most times to have our food delivered within one hour (3 courses).

Edited December 12, 2013 by travelberlin

[risotoman]

As a first time cruiser, I am looking at these posts each day with great interest. I have picked up many really useful hints and tips. I was initially quite upset by some of the reviews- we are looking forward to our "holiday of a lifetime" on Divina and I was starting to worry that I had wasted our money! However I now bear in mind the subjective nature of any review and have noted massive cultural differences and different expectations between the posts from USA and those from europe.I will continue to read them and enjoy them all so please keep posting! :)

 

 

I'm in similar position i have cruise once before review are all over the place but has many others trip i took before to varius destination the true is in the middel

 

:-)